2015 : The Art of Non-Conformity

Travel

“Adventure Is Anything that Puts Us Outside our Comfort Zone”: Notes from the Himalayas

Adventure photographer Cory Richards almost died in an avalanche while descending from a mountain in Pakistan, but he lived and the experience changed his life.

In a short (and amazing) video, he shares on “the richness that comes through struggle.”

“I’ve never been comfortable in the place that I’m in. I can’t stop and sit. It’s a constant engine that’s driving me to the things that are unknown to me."

Profiles

Billy Ulmer’s Quest to Visit 10 Tiny Houses Across America

This is a quest case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.)

When I heard about Billy Ulmer's quest to interview people living in tiny houses, I couldn't help but think of Dee Williams, one of the 2014 WDS speakers. Funny enough, she was one of his first interviews! Here's Billy's story.

Introduce yourself and your quest.

My name is Billy and I’m a writer and photographer from Portland, Oregon. In 2014, I completed the first phase of what has become an ongoing quest: I visited 10 tiny houses across America, did in-depth interviews with the people that designed, built and live in them, and shared their inspiring stories.
I met people in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, Ohio, New York and West Virginia, and learned how choosing an unlikely home changed their lives.

Work

How to Run a Business and Still Care for Your Family

I met a guy who was a busy executive at a startup in Silicon Valley. His family, a wife and three young kids, lived several states away. He lived in a hotel during the week, worked every evening, and flew home every weekend before returning to the office on Monday morning. Not a very dedicated family guy, right?

On the contrary. When I asked him about living in two cities, he admitted it was sometimes a challenge. But then he talked about what the weekends were like. “We do everything together,” he said. “We go camping. We bake and cook. We play hard the whole weekend long. I know I have to go back on Monday, so I'm constantly thinking about how to squeeze as much time and as many experiences in as we can.”

His family had discussed the arrangement of him being away mid-week, and they re-evaluated it twice a year. So far, at least, it was working.

Life

To Be Happier, Go to the Library

If you liked the Japanese tradition, here's another one from this side of the Pacific:

“Older people often draw as much happiness from ordinary experiences — like a day in the library — as they do from extraordinary ones.

Personally I'm still a fan of jetsetting about on international trips, so I don't think you have to choose between travel and "ordinary experiences"—but yes, a day at the library can bring a lot of joy.

Link: Affixing More Value to the Ordinary Experiences of Life

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Travel

AmEx Centurion Lounge: The Airport Oasis that Makes Domestic Flying Comfortable

Personal Link: The Platinum Card from American Express

Business Link: The Business Platinum Card from American Express

A couple of years ago, American Express made an unexpected move: they decided to create their own series of domestic airline lounges that are actually nice.

See, most lounges in the U.S. (and Canada, and honestly much of Europe as well) feature lounges that are better than being stuck in the terminal when your flight is delayed, but not by much. You often have a choice of stale cookies (American Airlines) or stale pretzels (United Airlines).

It wasn’t until I started travel hacking overseas that I discovered the lounges that are truly noteworthy, like the Lufthansa First Class Terminal, the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in Heathrow, and others.

Some of these lounges are destinations, in the same way that Bora Bora is a dream trip. You’d go well out of your way to spend a morning or afternoon in one of these spots.

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Profiles

2,500 “Beautiful Moments” from People in 24 Countries

This is a reader story. (Read others or tell us yours.)

In her darkest hour, Janne Williams discovered the power of being able to identify and remember positive moments throughout her day. Now, she travels the world asking others to do the same, and share their moments with her.

Here’s Janne:

While helplessly watching my mother’s health deteriorate, I sank into a state of profound sadness. I discovered that by focusing on finding small, good moments in my day, I was afforded pockets of happiness that reprieved me from my troubles. After my mother passed away, I wanted to share what I’d learned about how paying attention to how the good in our lives can make rough patches better.

I began by asking commuters on Dutch trains to draw me "beautiful moments" from their week. Not only were people cheered up as their moments came to them, but I watched complete strangers start talking to each other (quite a rare sight for commuters!).

Why I Became an Entrepreneur 16 Years Ago

The best and most honest answer is that I wasn’t good at anything else. For better or worse, I learned that I was a terrible employee. I was unreliable and unskilled.

I’ve written before about my last official job, lugging boxes onto FedEx trucks in the middle of the night.

Stacking boxes was surprisingly hard! It wasn’t just about picking up the box and tossing it in the truck—you had to stack it in a certain way that led to maximum efficiency (and presumably out of some concern for the contents, though that never seemed to be much of a priority).

I lacked the spatial reasoning to do this task well. I was decent enough at Tetris, but when it came to real boxes, I sucked. I kept waiting for that big horizontal bar to come down the chute, so I could clear off four lines of bricks or boxes all at once, but it never arrived. Instead, the supervisor kept messing with me, adding boxes with incorrect zip codes to the queue while laughing at my poorly-stacked pallets.

Whatever. I quit and never went back.

Life

The Japanese Tradition That Encourages Us to Be Present

More supporting evidence for my focus on units of momentary happiness:

"Japanese tradition tells of ichi-go ichi-e, a concept fortified over centuries of practice that says we only have one meeting, at one time—our experiences with one another stand alone. Every encounter we have—a dinner, a shared bottle of wine, a late evening of conversation on an old red couch—will happen once, and then will never happen again.

The circumstances surrounding an encounter, the people involved and their exact dispositions and history make each event unique. We may interact with the same people, within similar circumstances, but ichi-go ichi-e says that each interaction is an experience all unto itself, never to be re-created perfectly."

Since each encounter lasts but once, how will we choose to treat it?

Et Cetera

6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XXXIII

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

Invasive Species -- Photos of South African cell-phone towers disguised as trees
I Wanted to Be a Millionaire — What it’s like to lose a small fortune in 20 seconds
How to Charter a Yacht — The beginner’s guide
The King of Cactuses — When your cactus gets sick, who are you going to call? This guy.
The Uber Driver Who Makes $250,000 a Year — Tip: Most of his income doesn’t come from the actual driving
Champagne Bottle Chair Art — An unconventional competition with creative results

Et Cetera

“Scholarships for Real Life” WDS Foundation Is Now an Official Non-Profit

In 2013 we announced that all profits from WDS will go toward our new foundation, featuring Scholarships for Real Life.

In 2014 we announced the first grantees and $60,000 of initial awards to three individuals working on sensitive, important issues: a “kids-first” ADHD movement, LGBT empowerment, and life-skills training for youth.

The process of gaining 501(c)(3) status is cumbersome and often takes more than a year. I wish it took a bit less time, but I do understand the reasoning. The IRS wants to make sure that non-profits are legit, so you have to work for it!

Anyway, I was excited to hear from our foundation’s Executive Director, Katie Hurst, that we are officially legit. All donations to the foundation are now tax-deductable, though for now we aren’t actually soliciting deductions—we’re just funding the account through any surplus WDS revenue.

The next phase of applications for this year’s awards will open next week.

Life

Beware the Power of Bad Advice: A Lesson in Life and Plumbing

Holly Finch founded the LightBox Collaborative, a San Francisco-based consultancy for non-profits. Lightbox has eight “collaborators” but no employees. When I asked Holly what she should advise someone hoping to follow her path, she said: “Do it your way—but check the math.”

She explained that this means you should always apply someone else's lessons in a way that makes sense to you, but you should also make sure that your happiness allows for enough money.

Speaking of advice, here's what Holly had to say about relying on “professional" advice... and why those who give such advice should be careful.

After weeks of apartment hunting, my husband Hal and I had finally found “The One.” It was our San Francisco dream flat. The only sticking point was the water pressure in the shower, which was little more than a light spittle. The lackluster morning shower and our resulting crankiness became a black cloud over our otherwise happy new home.

Et Cetera

Living With Gratitude in a Modern Age: Starbucks Edition

Here’s one more story for the thread. (Oh, and here’s the first.)

Someone gave me a Starbucks gift card as a thank-you for a favor I did. Oh thanks! I thought. That was nice.

But to be honest, I get a fair number of Starbucks cards, so it didn't stand out in my mind at first. Most of the time, I just load them up on my card (you use the app, right?) and don’t think of it again.

This time I did something different. It was a $25 card, so I added it to the app but didn’t combine the balance with my main card like I usually do.

What’s the difference?

Well, every time I went to Starbucks for the next couple weeks and used funds from that new card’s balance, I thought of the person who gave me the card. Instead of just thinking That was nice once, I continued to think That was nice—and they’re still buying my coffee today!

Every day we have opportunities to live with gratitude—even in this modern age.

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Et Cetera

Giveaway: Business Class Upgrade On American Airlines

Did someone say upgrade? I believe it was us—and this week you can win a Business Class upgrade on any long-haul American Airlines flight!

As mentioned, a while back I took a 14-hour flight to Hong Kong, and when I got off the plane I was a millionaire—at least in miles. Upon achieving my status of two million flight miles with American Airlines, they gifted me an extra two systemwide upgrades (known as EVIPs for those who care).

I doubt I'll be able to use both of them myself, and they can't be sold—so I'm giving one away. Want to fly in the front?

Work

The Light Outside My Window on the Morning After Launch

Some past reflections and enduring lessons learned during the launch process:

***

This morning I woke up at 7:20am, and it felt so late. There was a touch of light outside—what was that? Oh right, sunrise.

For the past few mornings I’ve been getting up at the entirely unreasonable hour of 5:30am or sometimes even earlier. My breakfast place opens at 6am and I’ve been at the front of the line shortly thereafter. The sun rose two hours after I’d been awake.

Two nights earlier, I went to bed with my laptop on the nightstand. Yep—it was another product launch week.

As I made another cup of coffee on the morning after having slept “so late,” I thought back on the launches over the years. How many have I done? I honestly don’t remember ...

Et Cetera

Why “Make Something You Love” Still Matters

Link: New Video with New Stories about Freedom and Value

New video alert! My friend Marie is preparing to relaunch her mega-popular B-School course. As part of the process, she's releasing three free videos that aren't just teasers—they all include more than 25 minutes each of non-salesy, helpful tips on running an online business.

I mentioned the first and second ones last week. The third one is now out, and you can watch all of them by joining the pre-list at the link.

In the latest video, you’ll learn:

The surprising answers to common concerns about starting an online business: not enough time, unfamiliar with technology, etc.
Why freedom and value, the essential values of entrepreneurship, matter now more than ever
Case studies of real people earning $30,000 a month or more (and how they do it)
And, as we often say, so much more. This is a good one!

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